Lifestyle.com.au recently asked me to contribute on my thoughts on how more women are leading the charge when it comes to property buying.

Women are still behind when it comes to securing their financial future and know that their superannuation alone isn’t going to be enough to fund their retirement, due not only to the pay gap but also other factors such as maternity leave, and the difficulties in finding part time work whilst having small children. They are now looking at property as an alternative way of securing their independent wealth.

The lack of knowledge on the market or property buying in general is partly what has put women off buying in the past. Studies have actually shown the way men and women decide on big decisions and which steps to take next, is completely different. It turns out that largely this is due to men's inherent confidence, rather than knowledge or expertise that allows them to act, whereas women need to gather knowledge first to empower them to take the next step.

Luckily though for us women, we are also far more likely to ask for advice when we see that we can’t do it alone. We do our due diligence and pay for expert advice.. and then are far more likely to listen to this advice, thereby making smarter property decisions in the long run.

So it is exciting to see recent figures published that today, a massive 47 per cent of Australians who own an investment property are women, an analysis of the latest Australian Tax Office data by the Property Council of Australia has found. Furthermore new research from Westpac shows that more women than men are buying homes to live in or as investment properties, or looking at renovating and selling their existing homes.

With the rise of quality advisory’s in the form of buyer’s agents for example, women now have somewhere to turn to when it comes to shifting the balance of power in property buying and this can only be a good thing.